One little word. One bad habit. One year to stop saying sorry.

What happens when one woman resolves to ‘break up’ with saying sorry?

Charlotte Thomas is polite. Manners cost nothing, her mother always said … yet there’s a fine line between diplomat and doormat.

But every woman has their breaking point and Charlotte has just found hers. It wasn’t because she said sorry to her boss for challenging his terrible idea for a staff social, or because she apologised to the drunk girl who spilled espresso martini all over her favourite top. And it wasn’t because she agreed to go on a second date with the world’s most boring man to avoid hurting his feelings. Maybe it was all of these, or maybe it was when she realised she ended every email with the fateful words: No Worries If Not.

With the help of her best friend and housemate Mush, Charlotte declares she’s apologising no more. No more saying sorry for just doing her job, or speaking her mind or simply taking up space.

So when she finds her space being invaded by a manspreader on the Metro, Charlotte lets rip. When she’s finished shouting about why he’s the rudest man she’s ever met, she realises, annoyingly, that not only is he the best looking man she’s ever had the misfortune to sit next to … he’s actually really nice about it all too.

With her unapologetic pledge off to a tricky start, will Charlotte be, dare she say it … sorry she even started this?

It’s 1994. The music industry is mourning Kurt Cobain, Right Said Fred have re-emerged as an ‘ironic’ pop act and John Major is the country’s prime minister. Nothing is as it should be.

Emma is hurtling towards her 27th birthday, riddled with anxiety that her idols Joplin, Hendrix and Morrison all died aged 27, and now Kurt Cobain has gone too. Will Emma be next to join The Twenty Seven Club?

Emma, a rock music fan from Hull, with a penchant for a flaming Drambuie and a line of coke with her best mate Dave down The Angel, is troubled. Trev, her whippet, has IBS, and her job ordering bathroom supplies at the local caravan company is far from challenging. So when her dad, Tel, informs her that her music idol, Kurt Cobain has killed himself aged 27, Emma is consumed with anxiety.

Why have so many legendary musicians gone aged 27? Is there a link between the members of the so-called Twenty Seven Club? Is this why her mum had an affair and left them? And could Emma be about to join The Twenty Seven Club too?

The 27 Club is a nostalgic, often humorous, drug and booze-infused tale of friendship, discovery and anxiety as Emma tries, for once, to focus on life, rather than death.

It’s 1996. Emma’s been rejected by the man she loves and sacked from the job she hates but desperately needs. Feeling like she’s hit a new low, she finds herself serving ice-cream and phoney smiles at the local park.

Best mate Dave’s loved up, and her dad’s finally emerging from years of unemployment and a deep depression. Everyone’s life is on the up while Emma’s plummeting towards rock bottom.

Every day she gives a free ‘99 to the lonely old man who sits on the park bench and reminds herself that life could be much worse.

But soon, even sprinkles and monkey’s blood can’t hide the truth. She’s in deep trouble and losing sight of the edge. Who will help her up when she falls?

This is the follow up to The Twenty Seven Club (which was described by Stylist Magazine as ‘a moving exploration of mental health, music myths and why love can help us through’). Parklife can also be read as a standalone tale.